Pasco school district to close bus call centers early

From staff reports

Published: August 22, 2014

LAND O’ LAKES — The Pasco County School District has decided to close its transportation call center a week early.

The call center was set up to handle calls about school buses the first two weeks of school. The first day of school Monday the center’s volunteers fielded about 1,700 calls, but by the end of the week the volume of calls reached such a low level that district officials didn’t feel the center was needed another week.

The district released a statement Friday saying the early closure could be attributed to planning, training and other steps the district and schools took to make the transportation system run more smoothly at the start of the school year.

In the past, late buses and poor communication resulted in angry complaints from parents.

The call center was designed to help alleviate the communications problem. Call center operators, using specially designed software, were able to tell parents whether a bus was running late and whether a particular student boarded the bus.

“This is an example of how successful an operation can be when district departments work together, schools work with the district, and parents and students work with the schools and district,” Superintendent Kurt Browning said in a prepared statement. “We also owe our gratitude to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office for helping with elementary school traffic issues and supplying volunteers to help at the call center.”

Web banners about the call center will remain on the district and school websites through the end of this week, but parents who phone the call center numbers will be forwarded to one of the transportation compounds for assistance.